Most residential structures built in the United States, Canada and other countries of the world where ample wood supplies exist are constructed of dimensional lumber. The interior and exterior walls of typical houses are formed of 2.times.4's or 2.times.6's. Typically, a wall is formed with a horizontal base plate that rests upon a floor or foundation and a horizontal upper plate that defines the height of the wall, with spaced apart vertical studs extending between the base and top plates. Sometimes, a wall is constructed in a horizontal position and then tilted or lifted up into its vertical position. When constructed in a horizontal position nails can be driven through the plates directly into the ends of the studs. Walls constructed in this manner have the limitation that the top and bottom plates can be easily pulled away from the studs since nails driven into the ends of the studs have low holding power. In many instances it is necessary and, in fact, is usually desirable that a stud be affixed to a bottom or top plate by toe-nailing the stud to the plate. Toe-nailing provides a better system of attachment of a stud to a plate in that the angular extension of nails between the stud and the plate resists attempts to pull the stud away from the plate.
One problem with toe-nailing studs to upper and lower plates is that of accurately positioning the stud with respect to the plate. Since nails must be driven from one side of a vertically extending stud it is easy to see that the position of the stud on the bottom or top base plate can be easily moved during the process of hammering the nails into position. This invention concerns a carpenter's toe-nail backup clamp that can be quickly secured to a top or bottom plate and to form a backup against which a stud may be positioned so that it may be toe-nailed to the plate in a preselected, accurate position.
The use of a carpenter's toe-nail backup clamp of this invention for securing vertical studs to a top or bottom plate is only one example of the application of the invention. The carpenter's toe-nail backup clamp may be used on vertical studs to locate horizontal members, such as for framing windows. These are merely examples of the application of the carpenter's toe-nail backup clamp as will be described.